I'm saying that paying for online is the reason gay marriage was legalized in the first place.  Every cloud has a silver lining.  Thanks, Xbox Gold!

You can't do that. That is a merit of the servive which warrants subscribing to it. If you can say that, then I can say "take away the online MP for XBL and PSN is top dog". I'd say something else for comparison sake, but online MP is literally all the XBL offers.

And I really doubt you don't care about the games. On a list that includes games like LBP2, Super Street Fighter IV, Borderlands 2, inFamous 2, Batman: Arkham City, Sleeping Dogs, UC3, XCOM, BF3, Assassin's Creed 3, Mass Effect 3, and many, many more games, that all come out within a year after the game initially released (no releasing a 7 year old game in a monthly update), I doubt you just "don't care" about them, considering these are all big games. And if you download and play just 1 or 2 of those games over the course of one year, PS+, then, has already paid for itself, and you still have ALL the other games to choose from. If you put it in that perspective, you don't really pay to play online. Technically, yes you have, but in practice, no you haven't

I don't care what the "masses" want.

The key difference is that, when it was Xbox 360, Microsoft was the ONLY company regularly charging for online play. Nintendo didn't charge (though their stuff was shit), PSN was free (and compared to Xbox, the only difference was cross game chat and slightly more frequent outages), and Steam was free (and that was infinitely superior.

This gen, now both PSN+ and XBLG are required for online play, but the deals are leagues apart. With PSN, you get super discounts, online storage, deals on THREE consoles (PS3, PS4, and Vita), and it's cheaper. Plus, it feels optional. the only thing you're truly missing out on if you chose not to pay for it is online. Sucks, I don't like it; never will, but I actually plan on buying PSN+ on a yearly basis now, because the deals are so good. Whereas on Xbox, if you chose not to pay for online, your console is just a shittier version of the PS4 (weaker specs, mostly) for a higher cost (500 upfront.)

Even when both consoles are compared at their best, you still get more content for less money on PSN. More games, more movies, more deals, and more options.

So yes, it makes a difference. I do agree that it kind of sucks that you have to pay for PSN+ if you want to game online now, but the deals are so good on PSN+ that, honestly, I was planning on buying it regardless of its need to be activated to play online. IT sucks for people HAVING To buy PSN+ for the first time, but They will find - as many others have - that it is worth it.

That's the difference.

**Edit** - Oh, and Microsoft was the first to do it.  I don;t buy the 'it pays for the online servers' bit, because Steam has managed to keep that shit free; Sony's only doing it because they saw Microsoft do it and make a shit-tonne of money off it.  IT's capitalism, it's kinda greedy, but it was Microsoft who set the precedent for it, and Sony is, as they usualyl are, just following in the footsteps of others, and we all saw it coming half a decade ago. 

Sony does and that's why online play isn't free on PS4.

I don't care what Sony wants either. I just want free games.